Tell City Indiana Marathon

Many times when I look at my travel schedule for work, I try to plan ahead of time for a nearby marathon to knock off of the 50 state list.  In June, I was going to be working in the North Eastern most corner of Arkansas and only 3 hours away was a trail marathon in Tell City Indiana.  When people think of Indiana, they picture a flat state with no hills to speak of.  This is true for most of the state however the southern part is the exception to the rule.  The website described this as having the most elevation exchange of any marathon East of the Mississippi river falling short of Pike’s Peak and Mount Lemmon.  It also tells runners to expect this not to get a PR or a Boston Qualifier on this course.  I desperately wanted to knock off another state and figured I would see how tough this race could be.  The entire course was to take place on a 2 lap mountain trail and turned out to be every bit as rough as the entry form suggested.

The race was taking place on the Indian Celina trail in Tell City Indiana on a warm June afternoon.   There were quite a few runners that showed up with the course offering a 10k, half marathon and Marathon.  It was difficult to discern who was running in which race due to all of us starting together and us being painted with numbers instead of bibs.  The only goal for this race was to finish and not worry about time or pace, the hills were too tough to keep any type of pace.  Most of the hills were slick due to rain early in the morning which lead to a lot of fast walking up the hills and sliding down on the other side.  I did not have any idea where I fell into the mix of other marathoners nor did I really care.  If I finished in the top 10 or dead last was not a factor that weighed on me during the first loop.  I knew that there were plenty of people in front of me and just as many behind.  The course had many ups and downs and even a few fields of tall grass on uneven ground.  This was one of those races where you just keep moving forward and enjoy looking at nature.  After the first loop is when things started to change, one of the volunteers at a water station informed me that I was currently in 3^rd place.  I could see the 2^nd place runner in front of me, we had been trading positions for the entirety of the first lap and the 4^th place runner was in me immediate line of sight when I looked back.

The first lap was taken with caution with me slowing to cross the rivers with care not to get my feet wet to prevent blisters.  I had also expended energy in taking up conversations with other runners nearby but then it all became personal business during the second lap.  I had planned on keeping pace with the second place runner and then trying to sprint past him during the final mile at the finish.  One thing I am blessed with is closing speed but my main curse is that with my size, I suck at running up hills.  The man in front of me probably weighed 130lbs soak and wet.  I would pass him on the flat parts and down hills but he was very consistent with his pace on the up hills. This soon became my demise on the longest hill of the course, he kept his tough pace and I faltered behind until he disappeared over the summit.  I tried to pick up the pace barreling as fast as I could through the flats and down hill sections hoping to see my adversary.  The streams that I had once carefully crossed, I plowed through with absolutely no caution like a hungry beast looking for prey.  Finally, I came out of the forest with only a quarter mile till the finish line to happily take the 3^rd spot.  I talked to the other guy after the race and he told me that he had been running scared trying to urgently stay ahead.  He beat me but 3^rd place overall for any marathon is something that I can sleep easy over.  I finished just over the 4 hour mark but to put it in perspective, the guy who got first finished in 3:53 but he ran a marathon earlier in the year in 2:30.

The one thing I have learned about trail races is that it has a different type of running atmosphere.  These type of races do not care about medals or swag bags and this one was the same.  Instead of a medal, I received a handmade wooden trophy and got a neon green running singlet with the race emblem on the front.  After it was over, I headed home pleased that marathon #13 was now officially in the books and looked ahead to one of the coolest races that I have ever  heard about coming in August.

Rock n Roll New Orleans Marathon

After running my first 50 miler just 2 months earlier, I found myself taking a much needed recovery break to try and heal up.  Even after the soreness left the body, my usual runs were made it feel difficult to keep up at any of my old paces.  I was a bit distraught in late January when I realized that I had paid the entrance fee for the New Orleans Marathon in February and almost an entire month had passed due to recovery without a single speed workout or long run in the books.  Even though I would not be at my best, who could resist an opportunity to check out New Orleans.  I decided to go with the flow and just enjoy the experience.  My wife accompanied me on this trip which allowed me to view this as a romantic getaway with a 26.2 mile running tour of the city.  I woke up on race day with absolutely zero expectation other than to finish and enjoy the experience.  This mindset was also ingrained due to the previous 2 days being spent in the French Quarter enjoying the sights, sounds, food and drinks. 

This was to be my first Rock n Roll marathon that I had ever ran and even allowed me the opportunity to line up in the starting blocks behind some of my running idols.  Mo Farah, Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan were all there and since I had a decent time on my registration, I was to be in coral #1 behind the elites.  The race was also started by the lead guitarist from Pearl Jam playing the national anthem only about 10 feet from where I waited.  The experience so far was upbeat and full of excitement.  It was amazing to see the start of the race as all of the elites took off in front of me and quickly disappeared out of sight in a pace that looked easy for them but seemed like an uncanny feat for mere mortals like myself.  I later found out that Mo Farah had broken the course half marathon record with a dramatic finish just above the 1 hour mark.

For my race, I decided to coast at an easy 8 minute mile for the start and then consisted of a slow increase in pace as the course progressed.  This was a very flat course at sea level with the temperatures in the low 60’s.  The race goes through some of the historic areas of town in front of some of the prettiest homes in that part of the country.  Many of the homes looked like castles with the French style architecture that gives this part of New Orleans its rich flavor.  At almost the halfway point, the course twists and turns through downtown into the French Quarter with each breath giving a different smell.  One moment gives the aroma of fresh Cajun food cooking at a restaurant and then it immediately changes to the smothering stench from Bourbon Street given from the debauchery and alcohol that had taken place the night before.   The constant shift in smells added to the continuous change to my emotions and physical demeanor throughout the race which is common among all marathons.  One step you feel good and the next is balanced upon wanting to quit.  Emotionally, I would get distraught and be on the verge of tears and the next I would read a sign held up by a spectator and immediately feel uplifted.   One such sign was being held by a homeless looking man which read “free performance enhancing hugs!!”.  I even found a couple of areas in between water stations in which locals

were handing out beer to any runner who felt the need for some extra carbohydrates along the way.  I admit that around mile 23, I decided to enjoy the day and partake of a delightful ale.  If I remember correctly, they said it was Abita Turbo Dog.

Surprisingly, I only checked my watches a couple of times during the race because, I kept the mindset of trying to finish instead of run a fast pace.  As the course neared the end, I started to feel better than I had the whole race and eventually got faster as the time progressed.  When most people were slowing down from fatigue, I began to feed off of the satisfaction of passing another runner with each mile.  I crossed the finish line at about 3 hours and 16 minutes feeling happy with the end result.

Overall, I can honestly say that the product offered by the Rock n Roll marathon company gives a very good experience.  Every mile had a different band playing, to offer entertainment to the runners and spectators (although some were not so great).  The shirts and medals given out were also among some of my favorites in my collection.  The medal and shirt were of a higher quality that I received at Boston and New York.  New Orleans pulled out all of the stops and gave an all around good race day experience.  As I continue to progress through all 50 states, I can guarantee that I will specifically aim to run more RR marathons in the future.   This made marathon #11 with then next state only 1 month away.

Table Rock Ultramarathon

 

A few weeks ago, as I was preparing for my first 50 miler (actually 54) and the 10^th race at marathon distance (26.2 miles), there was a lot of information being released that  leads some to believe running extreme endurance events is bad for you.  Basically the study shows that the strain on the body from marathon running can increase a person’s risk of having a stroke and the risk can shorten one’s lifespan.  My opinion both during and after the race is that even though this is supposed to kill me, it makes me feel more alive than I have ever been.  It is kind of ironic that I began running to lose weight and increase not only my quality of life but the quantity of my lifespan.  I have been up as much as 270lbs and incapable of enjoying some of the things that I currently do on a daily basis.  I have already heard enough lectures and excuses about how running will ruin my knees and give me arthritis along with this new study to give even more lectures and excuses not to run.  A short life filled with real living is, in my opinion, better than a long life of just existing.  Running is not everyone’s picture of fun and I do understand that but for me it doesn’t get any better than seeing and experiencing what this hobby has allowed.

 

 

A few points before I talk about this amazing race.  I am not going to gripe about how painful and difficult it was.  Yes, it hurt a lot and yes it was very difficult.  I have a few pictures from the race and the elevation profile attached but showing numbers, statistics and words to describe the course would exceed the limitations of my vocabulary.  Also to describe the pain and fatigue is not an easy task either unless you have done something similar, for example; if I describe the feeling from a burn or broken bone, it is easy to empathize since these are common yet different feelings of pain that most of us have experienced.  Running an ultramarathon is in a different category and difficult to describe so I won’t make this sound whiny since it is something I willingly placed upon myself.  As of right now it still feels like I’m telling a lie when I tell that I ran a 54 mile race, folks look at me like some sort of escapee from the mental hospital.  I agree that it is not a task that someone can wake up tomorrow and do without a long period of training and preparation.  I would typically not recommend trying something like this without having ran at least one marathon or at least built up to a couple of 30+ mile training runs.  There was one exception to the rule for this race.  My friend, Brad Farmer, is one individual that I ran with during this race who had never ran a race of any distance ever before this.  Let me state that again, he never even competed in so much as a 5k before this race.  That is VERY exceptional and still is unbelievable to me.  He fell in love with running about 3 years ago and has been racking up insane mileage, not for sake of competition but for the mere enjoyment of running.  I had been pestering him for a while to run a race with me and was stunned when he agreed to run this one.  I must say that I am extremely proud of him for completing this challenge side by side with me and not only that, but also finishing in the top 15 especially when a quarter of the runners did not even finish.

 

On race day the first thing I noticed is that most ultra-runners don’t really care about formalities, they just like to run.  All of us were gathered around in the parking lot of Lake James State Park waiting on some instruction as to where the starting line was, when the race director gave us some instruction and then said “go”.  The start line was wherever we were standing.  A race starting this way was something that I had never experienced before.  Another example was the fact that this was listed as a 50 miler but the distance was actually 54 miles.  What is 4 extra miles amongst friends?  We started out with a conservative pace as many bolted out to the early lead as I silently knew we would see them again.

 

The first 20 miles of the race is all hills, primarily on the up side.  Each hill that ended in a blind turn revealed yet another hill to conquer.  Brad and I had originally decided to do a 5 minute run followed by a 1 minute walk to try and conserve energy.  Due to the amount of upward climbing that took place, we found it more efficient just to speed walk most of the hills since they were too steep to really run with any type of efficiency.  We saw other participants trying to run the hills without making much more progress than us and at this point in the game it was all about conserving energy for the end.  Once the majority of the climbing was finished we were blessed with some amazing views of the mountains in the distance with fog still in the valleys below.  We reached our first set of drop bags at mile 15 where I had a few electrolyte tablets and a fresh bottle of Pedialyte along with some body glide for chaffing and extra nipple bandages just in case the ones I had fell off.  There was also a hot cup of Ramen soup waiting at the aid station for those who wanted it.  Food at this point was not appetizing in any aspect but to stay strong you have to eat as much as possible to replenish the lost fuel along the course to keep from hitting the wall.  I can honestly say that one of the toughest parts about running an ultra marathon is nutrition.  Most races at marathon distance or below only requires a few sips of Gatorade and a gel every once in a while but to run longer is impossible without a larger variety of calories.

 

After the aid station we noticed a gorgeous mountain in the distance that had a giant rock face at the top of it and I jokingly told Brad that it would suck if we had to run up that mountain.  As it turns out, that mountain is Table Rock, hence the name of the race “Table Rock Ultra Marathon”.  The mountain comes later in the race, for the moment we were content running down the gravel road along the top ridge of a couple mountains and enjoying nature.  The weather was great at the start in the upper 40’s with everything feeling great.  As the run progressed so did the temperatures as the weather climbed to a sunny 70 degrees.  This is typically not bad except as a rule of thumb, they say to dress for a race as if it is 20 degrees warmer and to dress accordingly.  The race course continued to alternate between gravel roads that led to paved ones and back to gravel through the NC countryside.  The scenery was not lacking at all and the views helped to take the mind off of the pain that began from tired muscles and would continue to progress for the next several hours until the finish line.  At the 50k mark, I was happy to see an aid station but also was a bit confused since we were supposed to have our second drop bags at the 35 mile mark.  We were told that there was another aid station only 3 miles away which seemed even more of a quandary.  This reasoning became clear as the next 3 miles were all steep uphill climbs on a road filled with endless switchbacks.  This point was where I hit a milestone into uncharted territory.  The longest I had ever ran at one time in my life was 31 miles.  I have never ran any further and did not have a clue what it would feel like and new that I was jumping into the deep end.   We could see the summit of Table Rock in the distance and still did not believe that we would actually have to climb up it until at mile 34 the road ended into a parking lot with an aid station waiting at the entrance to a rough and rocky trail leading up to the summit of the mountain.   This was a very difficult and technical trail with a very steep climb to the top.  We reached the top of the mountain just long enough to get a quick glance at the view to soak it in before turning around to go back down the mountain and grab our last set of drop bags at the aid station before the long downhill run.

 

Most people would think it is a relief to run downhill but when your legs are already shot from the long set of climbs it becomes very difficult for your legs to absorb the shock that a downhill run brings on.  I felt like I was walking a fine line hoping that my legs would not buckle from fatigue because a run on this steep of a hill would be extremely disastrous.  Finally the last of the downhill descent ended at around mile 40 when things relatively flattened out to rolling hills instead of dramatic ups and downs.  We were told at the last aid station that we were inside of the top 30 and were doing good.  We both decided to go for broke during the last half marathon portion of the course and it started to pay off as we began to pass multiple runners along our path.  Most of these were the folks at the beginning of the race that went out too fast, pushed too hard and were paying for it dramatically in the last few miles.  It appears that our conservative strategy paid off.  We hit the 50 mile mark and had already received a feeling of gratification.   How many people can say that they ran 50 miles?  Not only that but I was feeling very good even though the last 4 seemed to take forever.  About 3 miles out, before the race entered the park where the race started earlier, I could see my wife and daughter waiting patiently and waving to us as we came into view.  They started to run beside us but we were feeling good and still pushing a pace that was difficult for them to keep stride, luckily they parked the car only a mile down the path that we were running and hoped in to drive over to the finish to wait for us there.  When the finish line clock came into view, we saw that it read 9:59:10 and we had decided that we wanted to be under the 10 hour mark so we began to sprint.  That is a weird feeling after running 54 miles to try and finish of in a dead sprint for the finish line but we did it anyway.  We made it under our time barrier and were glad to have finished up and receive our black hooded sweatshirt as a finishers prize.  I must say this is the toughest shirt I have ever had to earn and will wear it with pride.  The race was filled with such amazing views that I had to take my wife and daughter back the next day to show them what Table Rock Mountain looked like.  It is a shame that most people will never get to see that view, yet another reason to love running because without it neither would have I.

The North Face 50k in Atlanta GA

After running the marathon in Kansas I felt great.  Usually I hurt for a couple days after and don’t seem to run well for a couple of months but for some reason I felt good.  I felt so good that I was easily able to run another 8 miles the next day with no soreness at all.  The challenge of running a marathon had gotten almost “easy”.  Since I had already qualified and ran Boston it no longer was an obsession about how fast I could run but instead it became about how far.



Base Camp for the race

 

During my running and travelling, I came across an author named Dean Karnazes.  His books were extremely inspirational and inspiring.  He is known for countless running feats such as running a marathon in all 50 states in 50 consecutive days.  He also once ran 48 hours straight on a treadmill in Times Square, ran from Los Angeles to New York and has done more ultra-marathons around the world than anyone I could imagine.  Dean has done more in his running career than I can begin to fathom, he is a superhero.  I want to be like Dean Karnazes.  After reading all three of his books, I decided to jump into the ultra-marathon game and decided to sign up for a 54mile race in Nebo North Carolina in December.  I started training and then realized that this distance is a huge step up from a marathon and would require a tougher approach to my training regimen.  To stay motivated I signed up to run a 50k trail race outside of Atlanta as a training run and to knock another state off the list.  I had no idea that this new distance would be filled with lots of treats. 

 

I first saw an advertisement for this race in Runner’s WorldMagazine and was sponsored by The North Face.  Usually when a big name company sponsors a race there is always lots of good perks so I could not turn this down.  To make the deal even sweeter, The North Face is Dean Karnazes’ official sponsor and they pay him to go and do all of his wild races and so he was on the list to be there after the race for a meet and greet at the finish line festival.  I have met plenty of famous people before like Hulk Hogan and Leila Ali and have been on TV shows like American Gladiators, One Man Army and Homicide Hunters but meeting Dean would mean more to me than all of those combined.  I could not wait to cross the finish line and go to meet the man responsible for motivating countless people to push the limits of what the human body is capable of, and so I headed off on the morning of the race with extra incentive to run well.

 

Early in the morning I lined up in the start corral, prepared to push my body longer than it had ever been challenged before, I listened to the race director’s instructions when he announced that Dean Karnazes would be running the 50k with us as he handed the microphone off to THE MAN for some last words of encouragement.  The whole game changed for me right then and there because I knew I would be sharing the race course with a legend.  After Dean handed the microphone back to the race director, he filed in with the rest of the pack and then the gun went off and my long day of glorious pain and suffering started.

 

The race began in complete darkness through a densely wooded single track trail with only a few people that had headlamps, excluding me.  It was a slow start since everyone packed in tight with the folks that had lights and we would all call out to one another whenever there was either a low limb or large step or obstruction on the course, this continued for the first 3 miles until the morning sunlight illuminated the forest enough for the pack to expand.  Once the trail became somewhat visible a group of runners darted past to get in the front position, when this occurred I was pushed to the ground and in the process lodged my right foot under a rock which immediately sent a sharp pain through my toe.  Later I would realize that it had ripped my big toenail apart from the quick.  From this point on I spent the next 28 miles limping up and down the extremely rocky and rollercoaster trail of hills as I could feel the warm blood being absorbed by my socks.  It sounds pretty gross but in the Ultra marathon world, this is considered a badge of honor although it is not one that I would like to experience very often.  At about the halfway point, I had another fall over some of the rough terrain, this time my middle toe on the opposite foot was the victim along with a bloody knee to show for it.  This proved to slow my progress even more than it already had been. 

 

I hate it when people ask me about my times on trail races because most people compare it to their accomplishments on road distances.  Running on trails versus roads are two completely different animals.  Even though some road races may have a few hills, the pavement is still smooth and allows for the runner to get into a regular groove with their stride and perform with more efficiency.  Running on a trail is seldom ever smooth, even on flat surfaces you constantly have to adjust your stride to negotiate a path over rocks, roots, tree stumps and the occasional creek crossing.  The terrain is notorious for constant tripping hazards; it is not a matter of “if” you will fall down but “when”.  Dean Karnazes also became a victim to a nice spill during the race.  The medic tent at the finish line venue was filled with lots of people with gaping wounds from head to toe; this is a unique camaraderie that trail runners get to share.

 

Running this 50k was not so much about going all out to try and race everyone, I never done a race at this distance before and especially not on a trial either.  I did not have a clue as to even what my goal race pace should be, running on feeling and impulse was the main tactic I employed.  I will admit that I did start taking walk breaks during the later parts of the course on some of the large uphill sections.  During the last 5 mile stretch as I started to crest another long hill, I heard a woman toward the bottom of it whom I passed earlier yell out “hello Dean”.  I immediately knew that the legend was back behind and gaining ground fast on me.  This added a new amount of pep in my running so I began to pick up the pace.  I did not care if I beat the legend at his own game, I just wanted to finish somewhere in the same timeframe as him.  I managed to keep him at bay until the very last aid station with 2 miles to go in the race.  We both stopped to get some Gatorade and started running in line together down the single track trail to the finish.  I started talking first and joked about him being the person I blame for the serious pain that I was in.  I told him that I had read his books and felt inspired to try and get into ultra running and run a marathon or greater in each state.  We then got into chatter about different races that we had done and he recommended a few for me to try.  I told him about the upcoming 54 mile race in December and my running partner in that race, Brad Farmer, who was also a big fan of his and was racing that one as his first race ever.  I must say that, although I was in a lot of pain, I forgot about it during that 2 mile span and really enjoyed running with Dean.  Coming up to the last stretch of the race I broke away from me on the last hill and beat me to the finish line by about 100 yards.  I thought it was funny because he came out of the woods first where my wife and daughter were patiently waiting and when she saw me she began screaming “Jeff, look it’s Dean, it’s Dean”  I smiled and said “I know, we have been talking for a while”.  I crossed the finish with Dean waiting at the line to give me a high five and a hug, it was awesome.  I went immediately over to my wife and daughter and he followed and began chatting with all three of us.  We talked about our kids and took a couple pictures together before heading to the medical tent and ice baths.  I can honestly say that was a cool experience and has made me enjoy running even more.  I hope that by looking back on that day, it will give some added motivation to push through many more races in the future.

Army BIrthday Marathon in Ft. Leavenworth Kansas

Just over a month removed from running the Boston Marathon, I had hit sort of a mild depression from the post race blues.  I had trained and looked forward to that race for about 4 years and now that it was over I felt like I did not have a purpose for running anymore.  As circumstances would have it, my sister was living in Junction City Kansas due to her husband being stationed at Fort Riley with the army.  She had asked for the family and me to come and visit during the summer while the kids were out of school.  I immediately started searching the internet for a marathon in the area since Kansas is not a part of the country I normally visit and this would give a good opportunity to mark another state off the list.  As circumstances would have it, Fort Leavenworth was having their 2^nd annual Army Birthday Marathon on the weekend I would be there and it was less than 2 hours away from her home.  Another big plus was the fact that it only cost $30 for the entry fee, who could pass that up?

 

When I mentioned to friends that I would be running this marathon, the first misconception is that it would be a flat course.  In fact the opposite was true; this actually contained a gigantic hill that had to be run over a total of 4 times.  The race had a 5k, 10k, half-marathon and full marathon event.  All of the routes were out and back with the marathon being the half course repeated twice.  The course went up past the Fort’s historic cemetery containing several private markers to great military leaders such as Brigadier General Henry Leavenworth—the fort’s namesake—and Colonel Edward Hatch.  You could immediately feel the historical significance of this military institution which once was home to the legendary Buffalo Soldiers.  I considered this a nice run through history even as the course passed by the famous Ft. Leavenworth penitentiary with its towering walls along a gorgeous view of the Missouri River.

 

I have to steal a quote from Charles Dickens to describe this race as the best of times and the worst of times.  A couple of difficulties for this race came not only with the hills along the course but also due to the temperature being at a hot 93 degrees along a freshly finished black pavement road.  Some positives from the race came when I realized that I had been the fortunate recipient of the coveted bib #1 which I consider in the running world to be both a privilege and an honor.  The marathon also had roughly only 10 participants since most others had decided to run the shorter distances which made my chances of a top finisher increase significantly.

 

As the race began in a cluster with all 4 race distances beginning together along the same course and only separating at the designated turning spot, I was pretty much in the lead pack for everyone including the 5k and 10k runners.  After the 10k turnaround spot, I slowed down to run with the half marathon leader in order to have someone to pace with and talk to during the first half of the race.  The day was warm and sunny but the low humidity made it bearable.  I made it back to the start line at 1 hour and 50 minutes, which would have given me second place if I crossed the finish line for the half-marathon but instead I turned back around to complete the second half with a significant lead over the rest of the group.  I did not see another marathon runner until I passed him at mile 14 for me which was mile 12 for him, so I had roughly a 2 mile lead at the halfway point.  This is a weird feeling that I had never experienced before.  Being in the lead gives the attitude of being chased.  I was in a spot that I had never thought I’d ever be in and loved every moment of it.  The thought of winning first place overall in a marathon had never seemed like it would even be possible even though this was such a small race and I did not want to lose it.  At this point I picked up the pace because anything less than winning would be a failure I could not endure.  I constantly kept looking back over my shoulder on long straight-aways to make sure that I had not lost any ground.  People joke with me all the time saying that they don’t run unless someone is chasing them and this time, someone really was.  The second half was run faster than the first.  I finished in 3:33:00.  I was ecstatic after coming in 1^st place overall on such a tough course on a very hot day.  The thrill of victory soon turned into multiple frustrations when I first found out that the electronic timing system had stopped working due to the heat from the weather so there was not an official finish time to record for any of the marathon finishers.  The next problem that “really” ticked me off came when I went to retrieve my 1^st place overall marathon medal and found that it had been given away to the finisher of a different distance.  They had medals for every age group in every distance and someone had mixed them all up and ended up giving away the marathon medal to someone else who did not earn it.  The only 1^st place award that they had left was the over 50 age group for the 5k.  I am still upset over this, there is no online record of my finish and I do not have a medal to prove that I even ran this race.  They tried to give me the 5k award but I told them to keep it because it was worthless to me.  I was promised that they would send me the right one in the mail but that was six months ago and I have given up on ever getting it.  Like I said, it was the best race because I got first place but it was also the worst because I have no record or proof of this accomplishment.  That is the way that life goes, sometimes there is a blessing intertwined with a curse.  There are greater tragedies that happen in life but at least Kansas has been checked off the list bringing my marathon total to 8.  Looks like it is time to move on and look forward to another adventure in another state.

Boston Marathon

The big day finally arrived!  I had been dreaming of this day for a long time.  I had talked about it so much that family and friends were getting sick of hearing about it.  Almost every conversation and thought had to do with this very day.  I trained for this harder and longer than anything else in my entire life.  The Boston marathon was finally here!  I had gone through a 20 week training cycle, hitting every speed workout and long run with the focus of a professional.  My diet had been flawless and my PR’s in every distance from a 5k to a half marathon had dropped.  I was the fastest, fittest and most focused I had ever been.  I was all set to break the 3 hour marathon threshold in the all star game of marathon races.  I had even planned this trip to coincide with my taper and rest the day before and wait to sight see in the days following this epic event.  Needless to say, everything within my control had been done with attention to the smallest detail down to what socks I was going to wear.  I even tried to do all of my training in the cool Tennessee mornings to simulate conditions of the early New England spring when temperatures were typically in the mid 50’s to low 60’s.  Little did I know that the one thing I could not control would be the one thing to crash any preparations for a perfect race as a freak heat wave would soon plague the 116^th running of the Boston Marathon?

The whole week had the heat in the low 70’s and it just so happened that on race day the heat was predicted to be 90 by noon on race day.  Everyone in Boston was in complete shock about this heat wave.  A few years ago during the Chicago marathon, they actually stopped the race when the heat hit the mid 80’s.  Green Bay Wisconsin actually cancelled their marathon this year when the heat rose to 80.  There were email alerts from the race director encouraging people to differ their race entry until next year because of the fear of heat related illness.   The perfect marathon conditions have been proven to be at around 55 degrees.  This is the right temperature to keep the body from using extra energy to either warm up your core or have to cool it down.  At 90 degrees it would be almost impossible to run any type of PR on this course.  There were 2,500 people that differed their entry until the next year and about another 1,800 that were unable to finish this race, including the course record holder, Geoffery Mutai, who dropped out at mile 18 due to heat stress.  Keep in mind that Boston is a marathon for the top 1% of marathon runners in the world so there are no first timers, only experienced veterans.

At the start line the heat had already risen to 85 degrees with little shade and most people, including me, were already showing sweat stains on our shirts.  As the gun went off I settled into my goal pace of 6:52 per mile just to see how long it would be feasible to hold it.  By mile 3 my shoes were already making the squishing sound as if I had just stepped through a puddle of water due to the excessive amount of sweat that I had already lost.  My pace then dropped to 7:15 per mile.  As the race went on my pace continued to drop to a survivor shuffle since the temps continued to rise and shade was at a minimum on the scorching black pavement.  At this point I decided just to run instead of race and enjoy the experience.  Even though this is not what I intended as my condition worsened, but what I saw still made it worth the agony.  I saw a city that was very proud of its heritage and as to why Boston lives up to the hype.

I was most impressed by the community support of those that reside along the race course.  As the heat picked up, people set up sprinkler systems in their front yard pointing them in the street for us to run through.  Other’s where handing out popsicles and even had coolers of ice to hand out to runners.  A gas station owner had even carted out a giant case of Zico Coconut Water to hand out to runners.  These folks were not paid volunteers and were spending their own hard earned money to give out supplies to runners like me simply to show support.  Boston loves its runners that much.  Even after the race, runners were given free access to the subway system to get a ride home to recover.   It is easy to see why so many people spend their lives trying to qualify for this race in hopes of someday running here.

The course is filled with landmarks that are recognized by running enthusiasts all over the world.  Ask anyone that has ran here before about Wellesley and you will probably get a smirk or chuckle out of them.  This comes at the half way point as you pass by the college filled with screaming girls holding signs begging for a kiss from any of the runners.  The sound of shrieks is so loud that I almost collapsed from the blinding pain of the sound.  I honestly can say that I did not stop for a kiss either, especially with so many photographers ready to take pictures for the internet around.  Casey would not appreciate it plus at this point I was so tired and ready to finish the race that kissing a stranger was at the bottom of things on my mind.  The next big landmark comes a few miles later in the town of Newton with the dreaded “Heartbreak Hill” at the end.  This is the part that most runners start to falter and a lot of elite runners have lost the race from this part of the course.  Newton starts around mile 18 and the last hill is around mile 21.  From here on out it is a steady downhill into downtown Boston until you see the famous CITGO billboard that lets you know that there is only 1 mile left to go.

I had mentioned on another post about people running for different reasons and Boston is definitely not an exception.  I saw countless men and women running in uniform for their fallen brethren.  There were lots of people with shirts that had homage paid toward a sick or fallen loved one.  Others were pushing someone with special needs in a wheelchair through the streets of Boston.  I saw two different wheel chairs with a parent pushing their disabled child down the street.  I even saw a few runners struggling through the course on prosthetic legs. You don’t have to observe this for very long without getting touched by the display of human love and affection for one another.   It is impossible to complain and gripe about race pains and fatigue when seeing a little boy who will never get the chance to walk getting pushed by his dad while he lay in a crumpled heap strapped in and confined to a wheelchair but still smiling and enjoying the ride.  As I think about it today, I still get a little choked up.  I must have cried for the last 2 miles of the race as I noticed these people.  I had to even stop a couple of times to tell them that I was proud of them which is not something I normally ever do.

I crossed the finish line in a time of 3:32:01, pointed my fingers to the sky to thank GOD for this day and smiled as a finisher’s medal was placed around my neck.  This endeavor over the last 4 years had finally been accomplished although it did not play out the way I had anticipated.  I met up with my family and went sightseeing for a while before getting ready to head home the next day.  I checked this race off of my list and hung my medal along with the countless others as now I have put this race in the past and look forward to the next challenge, whatever it may be.

Tulsa Oklahoma Trail Marathon

Last night as came clumsily stumbling up the front desk check in at my usual hotel in Blytheville Arkansas, I could not help but notice the odd looks I received from the concierge.  I can understand why.  I was staggering out of the car wobbling like new born colt barley able to support my weight with ashy skin and clothes left from the dried mineral deposits left by profuse sweating and blood shot eyes from the fatigue of the day’s events.  I don’t blame them one bit for the inquisitive looks that they were giving.  I have stayed at this hotel many times before so by now they are used to any type of crazy antics that I may incur.  After the usual greetings they finally had questioned about my present state and condition of appearance.  I had informed them of this morning’s adventures of running a trail marathon in Tulsa Oklahoma.  The only one word response that was given was in the form of a question…..Why?  They already know about my pursuits to run a marathon in every state, but they have never seen what condition each of these events physically puts on a person’s body.  Why would you do that if it puts you in such great pain during and afterwards?  I really did not have an answer, until now.

Many people get into the sport of running.  Go to an organized race and you will instantly see any and every type of person at all sort of levels with many answers to the question of Why.  Some have started or are well into the journey of weight loss and general fitness.  I would have to agree that running is super beneficial when it comes to getting in shape and improving the cardiovascular system.  Some get into running for the competition, many runners did so in high school and college and love the challenge of putting themselves against other athletes to see how hard they can push it.  Some are running in memory of someone or because they themselves have survived a brush with death.  I had recently read about a guy who received a heart transplant from an 18 year old girl who died in a car crash and vowed to run 18 marathons in memory of her.  Some run because they enjoy the social atmosphere.   Who could blame some for this, with all of the positive reasons to run; it makes for a positive influence on you being around so many wonderful people.  While I certainly like all of these reasons and am sure that there are plenty more, I realized thinking back on the race in Tulsa that I do not run marathons for any of these reasons primarily (although they do help).  I run because of the pain it gives me.  This may sound weird but let me explain.

Many of us go through life with the same insipid schedule over and over leaving the next day just as you did the first until eventually the years pass with no memory distinction between one day or the other.  Yes, there are some days that stick out like when you got married or your child was born.  Other days stick out for not so positive reasons like getting your heart broken, a death in the family or the time you broke your wrist playing football.  In moments of either great joy or in times of misery and pain are the moments that we most remember, good or bad.  Look at another scenario, when you were a child and you were told not to do something then disobeyed.  Often disobedience was repaid with a spanking or some form of punishment, after that you never forgot about that lesson.  How many times did you touch the stove eye before realizing that it burns?  I realized this fact while climbing one of the toughest hills of the Tulsa Post Oak Trail marathon.  Climbing the hill around mile 20 I was in such great pain and agony and each step felt like torture.  Putting one foot in front of the other was such a task all by itself, finally after reaching the top, there was a picture perfect view of the city of Tulsa in the distance.  I noticed the wind blowing across the fields, the smell of the Midwest air, the birds gliding effortlessly on the breeze.  Every sight and sound became as clear as ever.  From this hill in Oklahoma I felt like I could see clear to the ocean.  I will never forget that view, not just because of how breath taking it was, but also thanks to seeing that as a brief moment of beauty in the midst of such terrible pain.  I have run 6 marathons so far and can remember moments like that at each and every one of them.  I can name all five boroughs of New York and describe each one with great clarity.  I remember all of the neighborhoods and what downtown Huntsville Alabama looks like.  All of the historical monuments of Washington D.C. are forever burned into my long term conscious memory.  I can still remember the taste of the orange slices given to me during the loop around island home during the Knoxville marathon.  I can still smell the aroma from the small pizza place at the bottom of the last hill in Wynne Arkansas.  That is why I want to run a marathon in every state.  We go on vacation so that we can take pictures and reminisce.  I run on these vacations so that the memory of them will forever be seared into my mind in such an intimate way that I shall never forget.

We run from pain so often in life.  I firmly believe that pain was given to us a gift from our Creator.  Time and time again in the Bible, God’s people would forsake Him and do as they saw right in their own eyes.  Time and time again their pursuits left them in slavery and oppression.  I think that GOD allowed them to experience that kind of pain so that they would remember what it was like to live without Him being at the center of their life.  I honestly believe also that those who follow Him will experience pain but the reason for that is so that they will rely more on His hand and trust Him more so that this will as well firmly stick to their memory of how He can be trusted no matter what.

New York Marathon

My girls on the ferry to Staten Island

I have reached a point where I genuinely feel bad dragging my family places to watch me run a marathon.  I realize that there is usually a big expense and sometimes there is not much to do while I race for several hours at a time.  That is not the case for New York; as a whole, our family loves this city.  I surprised my wife the year before by taking her to this place for our anniversary and she was hooked ever since.  There is an inexhaustible amount of things to do and places to see in this metropolis.  That was also a key pitfall in this race.  We arrived a couple days early in order to take in some of the sights and culture of the city.  Every race has lessons to learn both for good and bad.  One key lesson for a destination race is to wait until after the race to do sightseeing.  Over the two days before the race we had walked all over the city from Central Park down to the World Trade Center and back a couple of times.  With the mixture of being tired from walking and eating a less than ideal diet of local fare, this race was destined to turn into more of a "fun" run instead of a race.

 

Meeting Apollo with my daughter

Up to this point I can honestly say that this race is something that I wish everyone could experience at least once in their lifetime.  There were roughly about 50,000 people that lined up at the start line for this race along with countless volunteers and spectators.  As far as running a marathon goes, I consider NY to be the super bowl and Boston to be the all star game.  There are so many extras for this race that are not possible elsewhere.  One unique example is a phone app. that allows you to track any runner at all times during the race.  This was awesome because my wife new where I was at all times and could be and specific spots to look for me on the course and also time when and where to meet at the finish line.  I also had lots of friends tracking my progress from all over the country while simultaneously comparing my race with various celebrities like Dean Karnazes, Apollo Ohno and Mario Lopez.  Another factor that I was not used to was running with a never ending pack of people.  Every race that I've ever ran eventually thinned out where most miles are spent in solitary periods with only a handful of others within sight.  With New York, the field of people continued in a tight group from start to finish, it is pretty exciting.

 

 

The spectators in NY also add another unique element to the race with the sidewalks being packed tight and folks hanging out of their windows yelling and cheering like madmen.  I remember even on a couple of occasions when I stopped to walk from exhaustion and got cussed and yelled as a unique form of motivation. "Don't F*&^#n' walk this is a F#@$%n' marathon" I was not offended but found it rather humorous.  Two other signs that I got a kick our of said "Running won't kill you, you'll pass out first" and "If running a marathon was easy, I'd be doing it" which was held up by a extremely overweight male.  I honestly believe that the people here take a lot of pride in this race and showed it with their enthusiasm.  Crossing over from Queens into Manhattan was the most amazing display of the entire race, thousands of people were packed on 1st Avenue and gave such a loud roar of encouragement for the runners that it felt like running into a thick wall of sound.

On that day, I did not run anything close to what I would consider a good time.  I finished in 3:39:29 due to fatigue from the day before and severe foot pain from wearing new shoes that were tied extremely tight but overall, I was happy to have finished and count that one for the record books.  I walked away with some aches, pains, bloody nipples and a finishers medal then headed straight to the airport just in time for the flight home before heading out of town the next day for work. 

 

The following day I awkwardly limped into the hotel lobby in Blytheville, Arkansas to check into my room.  The lady at the front desk asked what was wrong with my and why was I walking funny?  I then told her about running the NY marathon yesterday; her reply was pretty humorous " Doesn't running that far hurt?" I said, "yes, but only if you do it right".  I get asked the question "why" a lot.  I told my wife about this blog and even got the same 3 letter question too.  One day, I shall grow old and become feeble, my memory will fade and begin to fail in unison with my body.  I can always look back at the pictures, medals and this blog to remember.  Even after my body is laid to rest and the world continues on with my departure unnoticed except for a few friends and family, I can look back with out regret.  I got to enjoy a few brief moments away from the busy rat race of life and actually live.  Running these races has allowed me to see and experience things that others will not.  It is not that they are not capable of doing so, many people can do what I have done and possibly better, but the majority will choose just not to even try.

 

Washington DC Marathon

Two days have passed since the completion of my 4^th full marathon.  I have had a bit of time to think about all that has happened in the moments leading up to and the moments during this event.  The Sun Trust National Marathon in Washington D.C. is a delightful affair; however this one will go down in my memory as one fraught with adversity.  I originally had it in my plans to run the Boston Marathon on April 19, but due to a computer glitch during the first hours of registration I was rejected and so in a moment of haste and disappointment I registered for the D.C. marathon.  It seemed like a great choice.  One of my great goals in life is to run a marathon or longer in each of the 50 states as well as our nation’s capital.  Another plus for this race is the fact that they have a Clydesdale category for runners over 200lbs with the course record being 3:22:00.

This seemed like shooting fish in a barrel considering the 3:06:34 marathon I had just completed in Wynne, Arkansas.  So I paid the fee and began my training.  Preparation was going quite well with a strict regimen of speed work and an ever increasing long progression run on my Sunday mornings.  I even recall a 21 miler in early February with the last 3 miles being run under 6:30 per mile pace.  By late February training began to waiver as travels with work, winter snowboarding trips and DIY construction on the basement began to conflict with my running schedule.  The 65-75 miles per week that had been planned were hijacked and replaced with a 20-30 mile counterfeit regimen.   As the marathon date approached, I felt my confidence melt and conceded to just go and enjoy the sights and not take it too seriously.  This mind set started to fill my consciousness even more as the trip to D.C. was underway.  We decided to leave in the middle of the night on Thursday morning (about 12:30a.m.), drive all night and started sightseeing at Arlington National Cemetery right away.  I felt like a zombie.  We walked around the cemetery, by JFK’s grave and up to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  This experience woke me up out of my stupor for a moment and by the time we got settled into the hotel I fought sleep until I caved at about 8 p.m. . . .  Waking the next day I still felt quite a bit of exhaustion but did not want to be a party pooper so I trekked out with the family to take in all of the sights.  I would guess that we walked for at least 10 miles over the course of the day.  I had decided that I would order room service for 6 am the next morning and aim to salvage what I could for the race.  The next morning I waited around till about 6:10 and decided that I could not wait for breakfast any longer and darted out the door in a mad dash for the subway station with an empty stomach.  On the train, I noticed another person’s watch said the time was 6:52.  This made me extremely nervous since the starting pistol was to go off at 7.  As the train stopped, I bolted out and pushed my way through the crowd and up the escalator only to see the start line a quarter of a mile away with the microphone being handed to the mayor of D.C. to start the race.  I was even more worried because in my haste I had not stopped for my morning trip to the latrine and was feeling the urge extremely bad.  The streets were packed with 16,000 runners and absolutely no where to go.  I thought maybe the feeling would disappear as I ran, but it only got worse.  I tried to focus on the race and looked for the 3 hour marathon pace group and tried to fill in with them.  The race was under way as soon as I stepped into the corral and so I figured I would try to hang with this assemblage until I gave out.  At mile 3 of the race I spotted a cluster of port-a-potties and diverted off course and waited in a short line for my turn.  I knew I was losing a lot of time but it was too early in the race to do the unthinkable and just “go” as you “go” and try to rinse off with water at an aid station. (I was thinking seriously about it)  I stepped out of the potty only to see the 3:25 pace group going by.  I looked at my Garmin to see that my pace average had dropped to 8:48 per mile.  I threw caution to the wind and did what many would consider a cardinal sin for being this early into a marathon, I sprinted.  I ran my heart out from mile 3 until almost mile 6 till I caught up and passed the 3:05 pace group.  I knew that the 3 hour crew was too far ahead to catch so I thought I would hang with these guys as long as my body would hold out.  I then consumed my first energy gel only to immediately regurgitate it back up. From this point I decided to just enjoy the sights and try not to think about the pain and fatigue taking hold.

The sights were really nice as we passed the Capital building, Washington Monument, The White House and the Lincoln Memorial.  We turned north toward DuPont Circle and were met with a very large excited crowd of onlookers.  It felt nice to see all of the cheering supporters reaching for high fives and holding up motivational posters.  My favorite one said: “Naked cheerleaders next mile”.  I looked carefully for the next two miles but never saw them.  It is kind of funny because a glance at the Garmin revealed that my average pace had dropped from 8:48 to 6:50 per mile during that time.  Around mile 10 there was a DJ with his giant sound system and turntables blasting “like a g6” while break dancers performed along the sidewalks. 

The weather was also pretty cold.  The last week back home was warm in the mid 70’s but the temps up in D.C. at race time were about 34.  I state this because at about mile 14 my left shoe came untied and I had to stop and try to tie it with my frozen hands.  I probably looked like someone with rickets, trying feebly to get those stupid laces tied.  I finally succeeded but at this point I was too tired to really pay any attention to my pace.  The 3:05 group had gotten a little out of reach and I just decided to keep on trucking as hard and as long as possible.  Each mile got progressively harder.  Mile 20 hit when I saw a guy about my size beginning to pass me.  Pacing behind him, I began to study him.  He appeared to have about a 215lb frame.  As soon as that detail hit my brain, something snapped from survival mode into a competitive death match frame of mind.  The reason I chose this race was because they had a Clydesdale category.  I came to Washington because I feel like I am one of the fastest distance runners over 200 lbs in the country I did not intend on travelling all this way to be proven wrong.  From then on it was nose to the grindstone; I thanked God for this opportunity and began to pour my heart into the last 6.2 miles of this marathon.  I passed that guy and then several more people.  I began to notice that everyone else around me appeared to have a pained look on their face.  I would study each person and quietly think the mantra, “I’m tougher than you” as I would pass them. A quote by the late great Prefontaine comes to mind.  He said: “I don’t show up to a race to see who is faster, I show up to see who has the most guts.”  From mile 20-26 this was a repetitive thought, and then I began to think about all of the friends and family that have been encouraging me and praying for me during this event and continued to move forward….painfully, but forward none the less.

During the final mile I was in more pain than I have ever experienced in my last 3 marathons.  Never had the temptation of walking ever seemed so enchanting.  The finish line could be seen in the distance and a casual glance over my shoulder was given to entice my lust for an opportunity to walk.  At 0.2 miles from the finish line and 1 stride away from walking the rest of it, I was awoken like Lazarus from the dead when I heard the greatest single word ever spoken: “Daddy”.  The reason I think it is the greatest is not just for the meaning, but because of who spoke it.  I glanced up in my slovenly daze to see my daughter, Laurel, running toward me as fast as I was running toward her.  I snapped out of my stupor as emotion from the moment hit with the force of a crashing wave.  All I could do was motion for her and tell her to run me in.  My gasps for air and croaks of pain turned in to whimpers of tears and sentiment as we headed for the finish line.  I told her, “run me in” as she replied “I will daddy, I am so proud of you.”  We crossed the line and all I could muster were the words, “thank you, I love you so much”.  I then leaned over with most of my weight on her shoulders and kissed the top of her head as I began to soak her hair with a mixture of tears and sweat.   I was physically and emotionally exhausted.  So many times Laurel has needed me and looked for me to help her in times of need.  I don’t know if she will ever realize just how much I needed her right then and there.  She then helped me over to a tree where she told me to lay down and wait while she went to find mommy.

So far this was my 4^th marathon.  I finished 150^th overall and was the 1^st place Clydesdale lowering the course record to 3 hours 9 minutes and 41 seconds.  It was definitely not my best performance and is certainly not anything near what I feel capable of doing.  It is nice to hit adversity and come out in one piece on the other side.  Problems come, sometimes one right after another but regardless at some point you can only use those problems as an excuse to a degree.  Then there are only two options: Give up and look for sympathy or shut up and do the best you can with what you’ve got.  As the old saying goes, “you can get better or get bitter.”

This morning I dropped my daughter off at school before going to the airport to catch a flight to Texas for work.  Laurel told me that she felt inspired and wanted to someday run a half marathon.  I asked her why not a full marathon? “A full marathon is too hard, not everyone can do the stuff that you do” she said.  My reply is this: “It is not that I do something that has never been done before.  Almost anybody can do exactly the same as me, maybe better, but Most will never even bother to try.”  I only hope that God will grant me the grace to be an example in more ways than running and that Laurel will be inspired to walk in those ways as well.